Many envelopes have a transparent panel or window for allowing visual inspection of the enclosure. These window envelopes are manufactured from a web of paper material which is initially cut into blanks having a predetermined shape. A panel is subsequently cut from the blank by a panel cutting apparatus to form the window. Thereafter, the blank is then folded, gummed, printed, and packaged to form the finished envelope.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,659 to Falasconi describes a conventional rotary panel cutting apparatus comprising a cutting tool in the form of a cutting plate or die and a rotary die holder which brings the cutting die into successive contact with the envelope blanks which advance on a conveyor system. The cutting die has a raised cutting edge which is adapted to engage the blank and cut the panel. The die holder, sometimes called a die cylinder or drum, is mounted for rotation on a drive shaft synchronized with the conveyor system so that the cutting die engages a different envelope blank for each rotation of the die holder.
The surface of the die holder has a plurality of transport and vacuum orifices which communicate with corresponding air chambers which, in turn, selectively communicate with a source of vacuum or compressed air. The transport orifices are adapted to engage the envelope blank and, when the vacuum source is activated, carry the blank adjacent to the surface of the die holder. The rotation of the die holder carries the envelope to a cutting station where the blank is passed between the cutting die and a cutting bar so as to cut the panel in the envelope blank. The vacuum orifices are disposed within the periphery of the dies' cutting edges and, when the vacuum source is activated, form a localized vacuum zone within the vicinity of the cutting die to retain and carry away the panel which is cut from the envelope blanks. The envelope blank and the cut panel may be released from the die holder and the cutting die, respectively, by terminating the vacuum source or applying the compressed air to the transport and vacuum orifices. The vacuum and compressed air supply to each opening is controlled by means of valves or attachment tubes which are manually attached to each individual orifice. The attachment tubes typically rotate in unison with the die holder.
Unfortunately, the prior art panel cutting apparatuses suffer from numerous drawbacks. Since the die holder typically rotates from zero to about 1500 rpm, it is extremely difficult to obtain a proper seal between the rotating vacuum tubes and the feed tubes which permits the envelope blank to move, resulting in improper alignment between the cutting die and the envelope blank. Similarly, it is extremely difficult to obtain a proper seal at the vacuum orifices between the die holder and the drive shaft due to wear and abrasion, resulting in insufficient vacuum to carry the envelope blank and the panel and jamming of the cutting apparatus. It is also difficult to apply the vacuum or air at the correct time during the rotation of the die holder.
Another drawback is the lack of adjustability of the apparatus to cut out panels of different sizes as well as different locations on the blank. Attempts to provide an adjustable die holder capable of receiving different size cutting dies have been unsuccessful because the holding mechanisms, such as removable cover plates and holding keys, used to attach the cutting dies to the die holders leave significant areas without the vacuum orifices necessary to carry the envelope blank and the panel. In addition, these attempts have resulted in die holders which become unbalanced during rotation.
In order to minimize the assembly and disassembly downtime, magnetic clamp assemblies, having magnetic strips disposed in the surface of the die holder to magnetically attract and hold the cutting die, have been used. Unfortunately, the forces resulting from the rotation of the die holder may cause the cutting die to slide laterally on the surface of the magnets. To prevent the lateral movement of the cutting die, magnetic die holders have also utilized complicated mechanical clamping assemblies to hold at least the leading end of the cutting die while the magnetic clamps hold the remaining portion of the cutting die. The edge clamp suffers two drawbacks, either the leading edge must be clamped securely, and suffers a corresponding reduction in longevity, or one must refrain from creasing the leading edge, which in actual practice is extremely difficult. An example of this conventional practice is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,786 to Fuller. The Fuller device also attempts to prevent lateral movement by increasing the magnetic force and maximizing the number of magnetic strips disposed in the die holder surface which results in minimizing the number of the vacuum orifices available for retaining the envelope blank and panel.
Finally, with conventional rotary cutting apparatus, when such a die cuts patterns from material, such as windows out of paper envelopes, the scrap material cut, such as chips of paper, does not always completely disengage from the original material. Even if the scrap material did disengage from the original material, there was still a likelihood that the scrap material would be left on the cutting die plate near the edges of the pattern being cut. This residual scrap material, left on the original material, or on the cutting die plate, causes the cutting machinery to jam, resulting in down time, breakage of tooling, waste of material, and slowing down of machine operation to compensate for the residual scrap material buildup.